Getting Back Into The Habbit Of Drawing BGs For Animation To Fill Up That Portfolio!

Getting back into the habbit of drawing BGs for Animation to fill up that portfolio!

Guess who's back. Back again. (because I think I finally broke the curse of my artblock for real this time) Man I haven't finished a painting in months and it feels great to finally been able to paint joyfully again..maybe even stronger then ever?

Anyways. Nabs, Stop rambling, people want to hear about the story about this artwork! I guess...

This painting is called "Dreams". An image, that is a bit surreal but also invites the viewer to dream and feel. Something we do not do often these days (especially as adults). And it also captures my mood whenever I'm traveling by trains.

I don't know how to end this description so I hope that you stay hydrated. If not, grab a glass of water and sip that water, bestie. We stan hydrated peeps here!

The Program I used was Photoshop and tons of layers (and a lot of nerves too.)

I check the water's surface and see It has poison in it I breath it in And regardless of whether anyone can see me I make a beautiful face as a light shines on me.

Hakushi Hasegawa - Doku

A quick sketch from the 1h character design challenge I did with friends.

And back to the painting game after doing so much Cell-shading! Parallel to my portfolio pieces I was working on this piece. At first that idea seemed fun but the more I progressed, the more difficult it became and I would mainly blame the one point perspective for it. Like dang, It's really difficult to use this perspective in a way without making Items look flat. Also I just noticed that the Grandpa has a certain corporate look to him that I cannot unsee. But I actually quite like the outcome. My favorite part was the shadows on the left side on the image as I had a big AHA moment. The Aha Moment is that usually we have a strict "Warm light/cold Shadow" rule but if you mix in a little bit of a warm color, the shadow becomes a more vibrant feel to it! It definitely is something that I want to experiment more with in the future.

A lot have been on my mind lately and I thought I gonna share it today. Alongside this little page from my new Sketchbook. I freshly started it two days ago after for it patiently waiting in my shelf for 3 month, ready to be filled with good and bad drawings. And notes. Because I also write a lot.

Anyways. One thing that came into my mind was a quote a while ago. It came from a person on Youtube talking about AI Art. He said something along the lines of : "Artists don't like to draw but they like to see the end product"

Of course I can't talk for all artists on the world. But I am very certain that this statement is not true for most artists. What I'm going to describe now is more "my" experience. Maybe some artists here on Tumblr find themselves in these statement. Some might not. Both are valid and both are okay.

This might be shocking to you (or not) but if I'm being honest, I do not really care much for the end product. I never did. I maybe do, if a client is involved in the process but my core creativity stems from just doing something with my Hands. Grabbing my mechanical pencil and listening to the scratching noises on the paper while I slowly put Graphite on it. How some simple shapes slowly transforms itself into a drawing. An eye…the other eye… F*** I ruined the other eye. Doesn't matter. Lets continue from here. Taking a piece of my kneadable eraser , forming it into a convinient form and picking up some graphite areas in order to put on some highlights. At this point it's literally sculpting on Paper.

My digital approach is quite similar. Yet, instead of a Graphite pencil, or colored pencils I now have a overwhelmingly limitless palette. All the colors in the world (or within my RGB range) that I can throw together. The outcome is still not me carrying much for the result, but the process that leads me to the result The thinking process, the learning on the way. The test phase , in order to see if the process made sense in the end or not. Researching, learning again. And always with a brink of challenging myself to do better while also being in a almost meditative state. And every new piece of art I do is like a journey into the unknown. Sometimes I run into uncomfortable territories but it feels great to overcome them and literally feel the growth afterwards. Even with client work. And the best part of it is when my clients feel the same energy from the design I made for them.

Heck, I just love drawing and designing and the design thinking process. More than anything else in the world. And even the words I wrote are a simple understatement of how I truely feel about creating. Even when I got vulnerable at some parts.

And this feelings for the drafts of art is not unique to me. It's a universal artist experience. Go ask other artistic professionals. James Jean, Ian Mcque, or Bobby Chiu. Just watch all the dozens of Sketchbook tours that Proko has uploaded on his channel. Or the THU Sketchbook Tours where you not only see beautiful and inspiring sketches, but also get a glimpse into the minds of other artists. Or the Schoolism Interviews where Artists all over the world talk about their craft and the love to it. (just to reveal some places that made me fall in love with art all over again.)

And now let me ask you again: Do Artists really hate the process?

And for the transparacy: Some portraits where referenced from following fashion photographers: Keta Tamamura (Nezu 2019) Victor Demarchelier (photographing Katie Moore)